Parents of Jyothirmayee, Kumar to leave for Britain

Hyderabad, May 12 (IANS) The parents of an Indian girl student who was murdered near Birmingham last week and the parents of her murder-accused roommate are to leave for Britain. They were issued passports by the Regional Passport Office here Monday and are expected to leave in a day or two.

While the parents of V.S. Jyothirmayee are going to catch a glimpse of their daughter’s body, those of N. Nagraju Kumar are leaving to fight a legal battle to prove that he is ‘innocent’.

Both the families Monday met Regional Passport Officer Bala Bhaskar, who issued them the passports.

Since it is likely to take four to six weeks for Jyothirmayee’s body to be brought to India, her parents and sister are leaving to make arrangements to bring it back.

The Andhra Pradesh government has agreed to bear the cost of their travel and bring the body, which is in the custody of the West Midlands police after two autopsies.

Jyothirmayee, 23, a postgraduate student at Wolverhampton University and hailing from Vijayawada, was found murdered in her apartment on the outskirts of Birmingham on May 6. Kumar, who hails from Hyderabad, was found in an injured condition. Two days later, police arrested the 24-year-old on charges of murder. He allegedly inflicted injuries on himself to mislead the police.

The two were sharing the apartment with another Telugu student Kiran, their senior in the same university.

N. Saibabu has denied reports that Jyothirmayi had an affair with Kumar. The parents of the boy claimed that he was innocent.

They claimed to have received phone call from Kumar’s friends informing them that some unidentified people attacked them.

“My son is innocent and I am sure that his innocence will be proved,” Kumar’s father N. Shivanarayana told newsmen on Monday.